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Yahoo Chief Rearranges Managers Once Again

SAN FRANCISCO — Carol Bartz, the new chief executive of Yahoo, announced a corporate reorganization on Thursday that put her stamp on the company with a more top-down management structure.

Like the more than half a dozen management shake-ups at Yahoo over the last two years or so, this reorganization is intended to streamline the company, make managers more accountable and accelerate decision making. It largely does away with a matrix organization under which many employees and managers reported to multiple bosses.

“Today I’m rolling out a new management structure that I believe will make Yahoo a lot faster on its feet,” Ms. Bartz wrote in a corporate blog post announcing the changes. “For us working at Yahoo, it means everything gets simpler. We’ll be able to make speedier decisions, the notorious silos are gone, and we have a renewed focus on the customer.”

As part of the shake-up, Blake Jorgensen, chief financial officer, is stepping down and has yet to be replaced. He is a longtime friend of Yahoo’s former president, Susan L. Decker, who announced she would leave when Ms. Bartz was named chief executive in January. Yahoo said Mr. Jorgensen would remain through a transition.

The new organization consolidates most functions in a small group of executives who will report directly to Ms. Bartz, a structure similar to the one she used at Autodesk, where she became chief executive in 1992.

Investors appeared to welcome the move. Yahoo shares closed at $12.98, up 50 cents, or 4 percent, while most major stock indexes were down.

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“At this point, any change is a positive from an internal morale standpoint and a shareholder standpoint,” said Ross Sandler, an analyst at RBC Capital Markets. “This is what Carol did at Autodesk. That’s one of her biggest strengths and why she was brought in.”

The new organization combines oversight of technology and product management under Ari Balogh, the chief technology officer, who will also have the title of executive vice president of products.

Hilary Schneider, a fast-rising executive who previously ran operations in the United States, will now be executive vice president for North America, a role that includes responsibility for mobile. She was also close to Ms. Decker.

Ms. Bartz also created the position of chief marketing officer and appointed Elisa Steele, a senior executive at NetApp, where Ms. Bartz is a director. Ms. Bartz also appointed Joel Jones, a former consultant at McKinsey and corporate strategist at Yahoo, as her chief of staff, a new position.

Yahoo said it is looking for executives to lead international operations and a new customer advocacy group intended to collect and incorporate information from users and advertisers.

“This structure is designed to last two to four years; however, we’ll continue to make adjustments as needed,” Ms. Bartz wrote.

A version of this article appears in print on , on Page B5 of the New York edition with the headline: Yahoo Chief Rearranges Managers Once Again. Order Reprints|Today's Paper|Subscribe